Everyone was astonished. "President, wasn't this campaign given to you in recognition of your abilities?"
"Such naive thinking!" Mr. Chen shook his head disapprovingly. "Competition among advertising firms is stiff, and Yuan Jia doesn't have any famous works in the industry, so how would we be able to collaborate with the Ji Group on an advertising campaign?"
"But...that doesn't mean it was Yiren's sole hard work that got us the account...?" Her colleagues were indignant.
Yan Yiren felt a little annoyed and wished to cool down in the pantry. When she rose to her feet, Mr. Chen pressed her back onto the chair, chuckling as he said, "Yiren, don't be mad. They don't know the truth after all..."
"President!" Yan Yiren swiftly cut off Mr. Chen's words, moving to remove his hand on her shoulder as she stood up. "The only reason we were able to work with the Ji Group on this campaign is because of your hard work. You can keep chatting. I'll get myself a glass of water."
She ignored everyone as she walked away from Mr. Chen and made her way to the pantry.
Her colleagues were struck with disbelief. Yan Yiren had acted in such an ungrateful manner, yet Mr. Chen wasn't angry?
A co-worker's curiosity got the better of him. "President, the truth that you spoke of, what is it exactly?" he asked.
"Ah haha, it's nothing, it's nothing." Mr. Chen understood that Yan Yiren just wanted to keep a low profile. After all, she was Ji Hanjiang's girlfriend, and he couldn't afford to offend her.
Curiosity is the innate nature of humans. The more they couldn't get an answer, the greater their curiosity.
The abruptness with which Mr. Chen ended the conversation and the way he favored Yan Yiren made everyone in the company speculate even further.
...
At five-thirty, Yan Yiren left the company. After walking for about five hundred meters, Ji Hanjiang's black Maybach parked at the roadside came into sight.
She opened the door and got in. "Hanjiang, sorry for making you wait."
Ji Hanjiang looked a little gloomy. With one hand on the window and the other softly tapping on the steering wheel, he didn't even turn her way ever after she had got into the car.
Her greeting met with silence. After a while, he questioned, "Yiren, is it embarrassing for you to have a boyfriend like me?"
"Why ask such a question?" Yan Yiren frowned; what was wrong with him?
"I want to meet grandma, but you always push away the topic, saying I can't. I understand she's sick, so I'll stop talking about it." Ji Hanjiang turned over, his eyes blazing. "Ever since you started working here, you never allowed me to send you straight to the door of the company. Even if I was just picking you up, I had to wait at a distance of a few hundred meters. Am I that embarrassing to you?"
As the heir of Ji Group, women would line up just to get a piece of him, and he was all hers!
The way she covered herself up and hid was if she was afraid of others finding out that she was Ji Hanjiang's girlfriend.
After working the entire day, Yan Yiren was exhausted. Her head throbbed, and she rubbed her forehead as she answered him weakly, "Hanjiang, it's not that I find you embarrassing. It's because you're too good for me. I feel that it's embarrassing for you to have me as your girlfriend. Not letting you drop me off right at the door is to not reveal our relationship. You know how gossipy my colleagues are. They would just spin any sort of stories if they saw you..."
These words again! Again, these words!
Ji Hanjiang chuckled self-mockingly, suppressing his anger. "Let's not talk about this anymore. Let's go to dinner."
"As you wish."
It would be better not to argue. If he had the initiative to wrap things up before they spiraled out of control, Yan Yiren wouldn't rush to argue either.
Even though it was inevitable for couples to argue here and there, she had always believed that every time a couple argued, a crack would emerge in their relationship.
And these cracks, when they accumulated, would ultimately serve as the fuse to the end of their relationship.
...
Ji Hanjiang brought her to a private club that they frequented. Since the first time he had brought her here, he had realized that the dishes whipped up by the chef were to her liking. Since then, he had brought her here most of the time to enjoy their meals.